NUMB
by Kangaskhan
Summary: Do you believe in God? Does he believe in you?


NUMB

_I've become so numb, I can't feel you there._

He watched with such a sense of apathy, it frightened him. Once upon a time, he wouldn't have stood for it. Now though, he was tired. So tired.

_I've become so tired..._

One human stuck the other in anger. They were yelling, screaming, and it only escalated from there. Others became involved, slowly but surely. In a manner of weeks there was war.

_So much more aware._

His creations were destroying each other. The humans and their loyal friends fought to the death, tearing into each other, mutilated themselves until their bodies gave out and died. What could come of this? Certainly nothing... nothing but sorrow.

Their God watched passively as civilization destroyed itself. Ripped apart at the very fabric, they collapsed into nothing but chaos and madness. More chilling than their extinction was the lack of warmth or pity in their god's eyes. He just watched, watched them all burn.

_By becoming this, all I want to do..._

Arceus floated up, away from the ruins of his temple. Away from the charred corpses. The battlefields littered with carrion. The gore strewn landscapes that had once been green and teeming with life. Away from the chaos, away from sadness. This was not his world anymore.

He watched for a moment, something stirring below. Among the decay and confusion, one tiny creature yet stirred. He wove his way through the mess of bodies. He moved with frantic purpose, only stopping to rest by the breast of one fallen soldier. It was a young man, no more than fifteen years of life. Fifteen brief years, cut short by the dark, cruelty of this world.

The tiny creature laid itself across the human boy's chest, panting pitifully. It's squeaking could be interpreted as mournful wails. Mourning this human. What had he been in life? Something worthy to justify a mourning surely. But as the little creature's sobbing continued it became all the more clear. It was not this man, but man itself that warranted this dirge.

Such beautiful, fascinating creatures they had been before their undoing. They were so clever, and funny too. They had all the potential in the world. They could have done anything. They could have done anything. Anything, except save themselves.

Arceus landed beside the smaller monster, looking over it as it cried.

"Why do you weep for them? This is the destruction they have wrought. It is only fair judgment that their evil has destroyed them."

The smaller monster looked up, teary eyed. "But what did this boy do? He who freed my tail from a trap, who gave me grain to eat and a home to sleep. He who worked in the field for his gramma and baked bread with his mama. What did he do to deserve this?"

Arceus stood in awe for a moment at this simple creature's profound logic. He stepped closer, looking over the boy's face. It now appeared as though he had been much younger than he first thought. His left breast had been pierced by an arrow, the shaft still protruding cruelty from his lifeless form.

"Why did you let this happen?" the little creature spoke again, this time more bold than before. "If you could stop it, and didn't, then why did they call you God?" Tears came to the little beast's eyes again. "They trusted you... they loved you unconditionally... why could you not do that for them?"

And there stood the creator of the heavens and the earth, baffled by the utterance of one, insignificant creature. With only a toss of his head he could banish this foolish creature to the lost zone, to waste away alone in pain. Certianly it knew this too. But here it stood, staring him down, with tears in its eyes, asking him 'why'. Why didn't you stop it Arceus? ...why?

Arceus lowered his head and touched it to the boy's face. He could feel the lifelessness, it radiated a particular feeling that sent chills through his immortal body. He grabbed hold of the coldness though, drawing it into himself, letting his warmth flow out. A faint light eminated from the patch of skin where their bodies connected. As the sensation of life left the God of Judgment the rigor mortis disappeared from the young man's limbs.

Arceus stepped away, raising his head to look upon the deed he had done. A seed of life had been planted in him. But only true, heartfelt goodness would permit it to grow. "You there," Arceus said to the little pink monster. "Pluck the arrow from his breast and see if he awakens."

The smaller monster nodded, grabbing the arrow shaft and yanking it with both hands. The weapon was crude and poorly made, but still it came out without splintering. Moments later the wound was gone, disappearing under a sheen of green light. A moment passed. Then another. Another.

Arceus was prepared to turn on the foolish monster who dare defy his judgment. Just then, the boy moved. It was a small movement, but still a movement. The rising and falling of his chest resumed with the steady rhythm of life.

"Perhaps... perhaps you were right, small creature," Arceus said, looking at the little beast in true sorrow. He looked around the battlefield, feeling it weigh heavy on his heart. So much red covering up the green. So much ugly, covering up the beauty. So much hatred, clouding his vision.

Arceus stepped away, allowing himself to slip the bonds of gravity once more. "I will repeal my judgment on mankind," Arceus declared, looking down at the little pink monster, still faithfully watching over the human. "But you must promise me..."

"Whatever you ask, your nobleness," it replied modestly.

"You, and all your kind shall watch over them. I will impart to you a secret knowledge, of all the power locked inside you. Use it to protect them, from those that would harm them, and harm they would do themselves."

Light surrounded the ancient god, separating from his body seventeen spheres. Each of them held within a portion of Arceus' secret knowledge. In turn each one flew up to, then into the pink monster. Ancient knowledge from the universe's creation flower into and throughout the little creature as it absorbed Arceu's will.

"You will go and teach these things to your kind. You will be their patron and the source of all their power," Arceus said, regarding the little creature. Soon it too began to float, much to its own surprise. It struggled to right itself for several moments before it was able to meet Arceus' gaze once more. "You, like the humans, poses a great and terrible potential. Do not let them stray."

Arceus then took skyward, his majestic body galloping over the field of the dead. Slowly, bit by bit, his own body began to decay. As it dissolved it scattered and fell to the earth below. A cool, green sheen overtook the broken mess, causing it to blur and become unfocused.

"Arceus! Where will you go!" the pink monster called out to the lest remaining piece of the ancient deity.

"I go to where my heart will learn what yours knows so well."

And with that, all was gone. All the blood. All the death. All the sadness. All the suffering, all the pain. And Arceus. Gone, as if they had never been there at all. What was left behind was a beautiful green field, humans working side by side, together in harmony once more.

"Heeey! You! What are you doing, straying so far from home?" A young boy called to the little pink creature, still staring blankly at the sky. The young boy approached him and scooped the little creature up in his arms. He tickled its little pink belly playfully and beamed at it brightly.

"I don't know what I'd do if anything happened to you, Mew. C'mon, let's go home..."

From the place of his ascension, he watched. He watched as man and beast toiled together in the field, the hardships they shared, and the burdens the bared. He watched with such fascination, that he felt something he had almost forgotten about entirely. Compassion.

_By becoming this all I want to do..._

He watched especially that young boy, and his pet, who loved him so much he moved the heart of gods.

_Is be less like me, and be more like you._


End file.
